Storyboard:

Title:

1919 - Treaty of Versailles: the peace treaties at the end of World War I

Rights-Managed,
Editorial

Location and time:

France, Versailles, 28-06-1919

Description:

The 1919 Treaty of Versailles is the peace treaty created as a result of the twelve-month-long Paris Peace Conference in 1919 which put an official end to World War I between the Allies and Central Powers. The ceremonial signing of the treaty with Germany occurred on June 28, 1919. The treaty was ratified on January 10, 1920 and required that Germany and its allies accept responsibility for causing the war and pay large amounts of compensation (known as war reparations). Like many other treaties, it is named for the place of its signing: the Hall of Mirrors in the Palace of Versailles, the very place where the German Empire had been proclaimed, January 18, 1871. The choice of venue was not coincidental.

Sound Bite and conversation:

Herwarth, Hans von

(german diplomat) , speaking German: - "What could we do? The war could go on. They would still occupy us. We had lost the war and we had to pay for it."

Fischer, Fritz

(student at the time 1919, the Treaty of Versailles) , speaking German: - "As a matter of fact, it already started on the day of signing. The elimination of the strict condition. The politicians of the Weimar Republic worked a lot on achieving moderation and in the end to make the agreement irrelevant."

Murville, Maurice Couve de

(Former Prime Minister) , speaking French: - "Versailles opened the gates to the next war. Everyone knew that Germany would not keep the terms of the treaty for long. On some fine day this would have to come to a bad end."

Höffling, Heinz

(student in Versailles, 1919) , speaking German: - "I remember, our history teachers said in school, now comes Versailles, we heard the conditions, now we are the older generation, but you and your children will have to struggle because of this."

Grosser, Alfred

(He was at Paris in 1919) , speaking German: - "The conditions were too moderate in terms of money or compared to what Bismarck asked for in 1871 from the French. Versailles’ fatal topic was the question of guilt. This infected Versailles, and this sickness saw the Weimar Republic through and the new states of the Monarchy too. "

Bourgeois, Maurice

(born in 1895) , speaking French: - "The allied nations wanted the war. They were defeated, so they had to pay. It works like this. And they paid. How do we say it? “Woe to the vanquished!” We wanted redemption and we liked it. "